GSA Capital Partners LLP Purchases Shares of 5,955 American States Water (NYSE:AWR)

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of American States Water (NYSE:AWR) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $496,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AWR. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of American States Water by 18.5% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 12,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $906,000 after buying an additional 1,960 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American States Water by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,760,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $343,900,000 after buying an additional 132,674 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of American States Water by 193.7% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of American States Water by 16.1% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of American States Water in the first quarter worth about $632,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American States Water Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AWR opened at $85.20 on Wednesday. American States Water has a 1 year low of $66.03 and a 1 year high of $87.50. The company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a P/E/G ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.88 and its 200 day moving average is $79.51.

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $161.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.00 million. American States Water had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 13.53%. The business’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American States Water will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

American States Water Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4655 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. American States Water’s payout ratio is 62.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American States Water

In other American States Water news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 500 shares of American States Water stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $40,445.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 38,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,115,801.91. The trade was a 1.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AWR has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded American States Water from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American States Water from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $80.00 to $87.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st.

American States Water Profile

American States Water Company, through its subsidiaries, provides water and electric services to residential, commercial, industrial, and other customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Water, Electric, and Contracted Services. The company purchases, produces, distributes, and sells water, as well as distributes electricity.